1/72 H-4 Flying Boat, "Spruce Goose"- canopy progress

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Believe it or not, I have been keeping busy with my 1/72 Vacuform H-4 Flying Boat (I’ve decided to refrain from calling it the “Spruce Goose”! Unfortunately, it seems most people don’t know it by it’s real designation). It’s just that most of the work had been freeing the fuselage halves from their backing sheets. (I’ve had about 12 feet of seams to get rid of! [:O]) Finally, though, I’ve gotten them to acceptable shapes, and have been able to begin fuselage corrections.

First off- the canopy/flight deck roof. The molded in roof has two problems- it’s way too rounded, and the sides slope way too much. So this is where I start.

I’ve started by getting rid of the kit roof (scored and snapped off with a razor blade) and adding a tab to mount the new roof.

Here’s half of the new roof. Checking reference pictures, I may have the wall a bit too straight, but it can be fixed if need be.

Here’s the roof fitted, with fuselage halves taped together.

Here you can see the difference between the kit roof and the new roof. The front piece was left of as a reference point, and has since been removed.

My biggest obstacle right now is getting enough internal support, while keeping it accepable for viewing after I complete the interior flight deck (as soon as I get a contour guage). Also, filling the gap between fuselage and new roof (while keeping the inside look good- for BOTH halves) will be an experience. But, an experiece for later.

Thanks for checking out my progress. It’s going pretty smoothly now, but give it time. [;)] There’s a looooong way to go!

[:D][tup]

(Any comments, criticims, or suggestions at this point, good or bad, are welcome)

2

You have got your hands, and bench, full with that project! Looking great so far. Can’t wait to see the wings on it!

3

Hi Mike… You’re a man after me own heart - i.e. not one to shy away from butchering something if you don’t think it looks right. My suggestion would be to make a solid copy of the cockpit ceiling as a master, then crash mould the finished article, cut it out & fit it in with just a few little tabs around the edges. Worth a try [;)]

4

The way I figure, I’ll have to do a bit of both on this model. While the “scratchbuild and vac-mold clear canopy” will work for the clear section, a different approach had to be taken with the roof. A number of prominent ribs run through the entire interior, and becuase I plan to scratchbuild and open up the interior, vac-forming the whole top (without ribs) won’t work.

Anyway, things are progressing smoothly. The other side of the roof is on, and I’m right now filling the gap on the other fuselage half with a piece of sheet styrene. It won’t be a perfect fuselage to fuselage joint, but close enough to provide a base for puttying.

Starting out I was a bit worried about ruining something with the canopy, but the farther I go, the happier I am that I did something. In my opnion, it looks great!

5

That is quite a project that you have going there. I am certain that you are “up” to the challenge and will do a great job on it. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.[tup]

Darwin, O.F. [alien]

6

Good for you, for insisting on calling it by its correct name. I’ve always been annoyed by people who make a joke out of the name.

Stephan